The seizure, denounced by critics as a gross intrusion intofreedom of the press, has created a backlash in Washington andled to questions over how the Obama administration is balancingthe need for national security with privacy rights.

The phone records issue erupted on Monday when the APpublicly complained about the seizure. The AP said it wasinformed last Friday that the Justice Department had gatheredrecords for more than 20 phone lines assigned to the news agencyand its reporters, covering April and May of last year.

The subpoena was part of an investigation into whether anunauthorized leak led to an AP report in May last year about anoperation, conducted by the CIA and allied intelligenceagencies, that stopped a Yemen-based al Qaeda plot to bomb aU.S.-bound airplane.

Holder said on Tuesday that he recused himself from thematter to avoid a potential conflict of interest because he wasinterviewed by the FBI as part of the same leak investigation.

Responding to lawmakers' questions on Wednesday, Holder saidhe did not have specific knowledge about how the subpoena wasformulated, and added that it was Deputy Attorney General JimCole who authorized the document.

When asked why the Justice Department did not first try toobtain the information voluntarily from the AP, as required bylaw in most cases, Holder noted there are exceptions to thatrequirement.

But he declined to elaborate.

"Recusals are such that I don't have any interaction withthe people who are involved in the case," Holder said.

The AP issue came as President Barack Obama faces a barrageof criticism over his administration's handling of other issues- notably the Internal Revenue Service's targeting ofconservative groups for extra scrutiny.

The White House sought on Wednesday to express itscommitment to press freedom. Spokesman Jay Carney said theadministration is seeking to revive legislation that would givejournalists legal protection when guarding their sources.

The White House has been in contact with Democratic SenatorCharles Schumer of New York to reintroduce a 2009 bill, Carneysaid. Known as the Free Flow of Information Act, the bill wouldgive federal protection to reporters who decline to releaseinformation about their sources because of a promise ofconfidentiality.